Owner Craig Fossella, former director of Bliss London and Bliss Los Angeles, was looking for a sophisticated, west coast city to open a new day spa. The city by the Bay was just what he was looking for when he decided to strike out on his own and open Tru. A modern day spa in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District, Tru is a place where luxury is enhanced by modern amenities.

Tru offers a unique approach to the modern day spa. Offering luxury and innovation in its services, Tru has become one of San Francisco’s premiere day spas, bringing in everyone from overworked day traders to the Marina crowd. When you open the door to Tru, a modern space in the newly renovated Hilton Hotel, you enter a spacious room lined with the world’s best spa products, and are met with clean lines, hardwood floors and colored glass. Tru commits to only the best products, handpicking items from the top lines to achieve an extensive inventory of spa products. When they can’t find the best, they create it, as they did with their whipped shea butter. Not satisfied with just another greasy product, Tru worked to manipulate the hard butter into something that could be used to massage and nourish the skin.

Tru’s treatment rooms are another one of the spa’s many innovations. As Craig puts it, “What makes us different is our unique approach to what we do.” Instead of the basic massage, Craig and his highly trained staffed have asked, “How can we create the best massage?” Treatment rooms step away from mainstream modern features, including aromatherapy, and instead feature colored-light therapy rooms. The nail spa features a candy-colored buffet of polishes, with a television set to play Sex and the City while you get your mani-pedi. And then there is Tru’s already famous Tropical Rainforest Room. Ready to provide you with a jungle-like experience, the room was at the top of my list for my own Tru experience.

My visit to the spa came at the end of a very hectic day. After battling city traffic and rushing into the spa, I was relieved when I was shown to the changing room. I passed through an all-white sitting room filled with delicious goodies: cheese, crackers, grapes and brownies. Passing through a silver-beaded curtain, I made my way to the locker room. Fitted with the latest technology, I programmed my locker with my personal four-digit code, put on the robe and slippers that awaited me, and made my way back to the sitting room. “Would you like a glass of champagne?” I couldn’t resist, and sipped away on some bubbly as I filled out my consultation form. Do you have any allergies, sensitivity to oils or products, and/or any serious conditions that your therapist should know about? I was immediately impressed by how thorough they were, having never filled out a consultation form for a massage treatment. After completing the form, my therapist arrived to escort me to the Tropical Rainforest Room. I was ready for my Tru experience.

My treatment, Jungle Love, was a 60-minute wet room experience that included a deep massage, steam bath, skin exfoliation and a soothing rinse under Tru’s very own waterfall. My therapist began with a sugar scrub that was sprinkled over my body and then rubbed in to exfoliate the skin.

After a quick rinse, I was covered in a tropical body mask made with papaya, mango, pineapple and banana. With real bits of papaya and mango rubbed into my skin, I smelled good enough to eat. As the body mask nourished my skin, my therapist left me with the music of the rainforest and the room filled with steam. Then the rain came. Large warm droplets began to fall from the ceiling, massaging my legs, arms and back. The experience was so exhilarating; I felt like a child playing in the rain.

As the rain ceased, I was called to the next room by the sound of a rushing waterfall. Standing in the water, the sugar, papaya and mango were rinsed from my body while the gush of the waterfall massaged the stress-knotted muscles of my neck and back. It was as if I were on a remote tropical island; the spa, the city, my name, all distant memories, were happily forgotten.

Finally I walked into the dry room where a fresh glass of champagne awaited me, accompanied by a new towel and Tru’s very own whipped shea butter. As I rubbed the light and fragrant butter into my skin, I felt completely relaxed, renewed and rejuvenated.

My experience complete, I returned once more to the changing room. Entering my code into the locker to retrieve my belongings, I realized that I wasn’t ready to leave. Fortunately Tru had one more luxury for me to enjoy: a delicious chocolate fudge brownie. Now that’s what I call therapeutic.

tru spa